The present invention relates to an apparatus for handling packed goods and in particular to an apparatus for stacking boxes of cigarette cartons.
In the cigarette manufacturing industry, automated machinery is used to make the cigarettes, to assemble a number of cigarettes, generally twenty, into a pack to assemble a certain number of packs of cigarettes, generally ten, into a carton, to assemble a predetermined number of cartons of cigarettes, into parallelepiped-shaped assemblages, to insert each of these assemblages into a packing case, to close the end flaps of these cases, seal them, and check them. At this point in the operation, however, the cases are transferred by hand from the automated apparatus to a shipping pallet and arranged in a number of stacks on the pallet.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to extend the automation of these various operations by providing apparatus for handling the cases of cigarettes and arranging them on standard pallets for shipping.